Good Morning Africa

By UCHECHUKWU GODWIN SIMON

Good Morning, Africa is a compendium of series of poetry collection on the African dream, Sierra Leone experience, the power of regeneration, and love and life in general. Africa in recent time has experienced a series of wars that seriously threatened the corporate existence of most of its states and brought untold hardship on its people. these wars were quite devastating and gravely debased human dignity and beyond those brutally murdered; others live with the scars of these wars. The Sierra Leone experience is very green in our memories, the beauty of the country, the war and its consequences. Good Morning, Africa further elucidates the general African inclination with a cursory look at political events in Nigeria and its socioeconomic consequences on the country and its people. The Bakassi Peninsula experience was expressed. Good Morning, Africa is a must read for every vibrant and adventurous mind. It is an expression of Africa by an African in pursuit of an African dream italicized in poetry. Similarly, a peep into the various wars within the West African region in which we participated under ECOMOG brings home the feelings of African upset. These are aptly captured poetically in the wake-up call on Africa.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trafford Publishing
• Release date: May 30, 2013
• ISBN: 9781466994737

UCHECHUKWU GODWIN SIMON

Good Morning, Africa, which captures Sierra Leone, my sojourn, is a creation of a young vibrant lieutenant on a mission to Sierra Leone under the auspices of the ECOWAS Monitoring Group (ECOMOG). The book is a collection of his experiences expressed in poetry. The book is intended to give an insight into the realities of the Sierra Leone War in his perception, with the hope of leaving a lasting consciousness in the minds and hearts of the future generation on the consequences of war. He took a broader dimension to the consequences of war on Africa generally and sees the need for a reappraisal of national indulgence that could be inimical to the corporate existence of African nations, highlighting the need for objective and purposeful commitment by all sundry in realizing the African dream.

Book preview

GOOD MORNING, AFRICA

Good morning, Africa

The dusk is spent, and dawn heralds

The cock’s crow announces

Cocorokoooooooo

The sun floods in on the morning dew

Calling to light the break of the day

Too long a night!

Too long a night!

The call resounds

Wake up, wake up, Mother beckons

Arise, arise, Father stresses

Arise to the new day

Wake up, wake up

Wake up, Africa

Wake up from your slumber

The call resounds

I have a dream

The day calls

A dream of a new dawn

Of a bright, beautiful new day

A day of great possibilities

Coming in strength and purpose

Breeding hope anew

Our tears wiped clean

Trigger the beat

The beat of good tidings

Spread it like the holy sermons

To the four ends of earthly sojourn

East, west, north, south, without exception

To all African ends

Leave no place for the woes

Brighten the gloomy ends

Lighten our youthful smiles

Bury the hatchets

Make what sacrifice it takes

To save this motherland of ours

Give peace a chance

Make real this dream

In whatever you do or say

Make this day a better one

For you and me

And for our unborn generation

At least for posterity’s sake

Good morning, Africa

PEACE, MY AFRICA

Peace, my Africa

Africa of my flesh and blood

Africa of my mother’s birth

Africa of my father’s strength

Africa of my youthful pride

Peace, my Africa

Africa of great heritage

Africa of blessed mine

Africa of great vigor

Africa of universal aggregate

Peace, my Africa

Alas! My fatherland

I hear your cry each passing day

I see your tears in every side of my neighborhood

I share in this pain, my Africa

Peace, my Africa

Alas! My motherland

Shedding precious tears of golden trail

Dripping precious blood of diamond spark

Horrors of self-infliction

Peace, my Africa

Stalled by this unfaithfulness

Seemed thus ungratefulness

Weaved in this disloyalty

In the helm of our heritage

Peace, my Africa

Why this dissension

Why this apathy

That has left my fatherland

A universal mockery

Peace, my Africa

Why this wantonness

That has brought us so much pain

So much grief and suffering

Misery and woes

Peace, my Africa

A truce won’t hurt

A sacrifice won’t kill

If for peace we reach

And Africans’ longevity preserved

WHO AM I

Who am I

I am the African child

Born to this generation of wolves

Who must be sacrificed to keep her leadership whims

Who am I

I am the African child

Born in this era of multiple wars

Who must die for the warlords to lead on

Who am I

I am the African child

Robbed by all astute

Denied childhood

Yes! I am the African child

Denied education

Denied hope

And even the basic, life

I am the African child

Born in this era of leadership sitting tight

Who must remain in power at all cost at

My life worthless for this creed

Yes! I am the African child

Who has been brutalized

Maimed and killed with impunity

Wasted for this greed

I am the African child

Who is continually displaced

Right in his homeland

Despite being born a freeman

I am the African child

Whose tears flow ceaselessly

Import of own parental infliction

With hope of little or no end

I am the African child

Who must fight for his liberation

From these fangs of regression

Of domestic colonialism

Who am I

I am the African child

Whose blisters hurt from this freedom trek

Even after independence

THE MINE

One would think it resourceful

Cheaply acquired, they say

Sprayed without measure

So to impede or canalize

All the military jargons

The mine

Torments so good

Maims so cheap

Kills without